The Secret Catalyst
by Scarlet Wisteria
Summary: Catalyst, noun. DEFINITION: a person or thing that causes an event or situation to suddenly happen. She was a catalyst to a series of events that the Titans would be pulled into. Feelings awake. Betrayals occur. Villains emerge. She was a catalyst to a series of events she didn't know she would be pulled into, too. GENRES: Drama/Romance/Friendship/Tragedy
1. The Girl

**Full Summary:** Catalyst, noun.

DEFINITION: a person or thing that causes an event or situation to suddenly happen.

She was a catalyst to a series of events that the Titans would be pulled into.

Feelings awake. Betrayals occur. Villains emerge.

She was a catalyst to a series of events she didn't know she would be pulled into, too.

 **Genres:** Romance, Drama, Friendship, Tragedy

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Girl**

Screams of frenzy filled the streets of Jump City, from the people who ran to avert Johnny Rancid's looting rampage as he motorcycled his way out of a bank. A contradiction appeared in itself as the day seemed to be a normal one with soothing, heart-warming weather coupled with a soft humming breeze, but it quickly progressed in a perverse manner as the City's latest criminal went on an adrenalin, power-hungry spree. The revving engines of Johnny's motorcycle mixed with the cries and shrieks of the people around him, made for refreshingly-twisted music to his ears.

"Run ya little punks!" Johnny laughed wildly as he shot his gun in the air to heighten the fear that grew around him. But his heart sank when he heard a familiar motorcycle bounding closer to the area.

"Damn, I wanted a little more fun!" He gritted his teeth in annoyance. He revved his engines, stuffing his looted cash into his side satchel and sped away down the streets.

As he sped down the streets he saw a figure standing in his path as it was enveloped in black coloration and watched as the figure streamed forth a shock of black energy that came at him as quickly as he rode towards it. He took out his demonic machete and held it up in front of him as he steered with his left hand and anticipated the force that would reflect off the machete as he pushed the gas gunning it to gain speed to withstand the strength as the dark magic met the machete's blade, it shattered and scattered in a repelling nature, like water hitting the curve of a spoon, as his blade reacted concurrently sparking off red electric energy as it fought with its' opposing enemy. He continued ride forward and held his machete in front of him to protect him from the dark magic's harm. He could see Raven, levitating about six feet from the ground, eyes glazed over in black magic. He waited till he was closer until he flipped up a switch cover right next to his left handlebar and pushed a button. A fairly large grapple-claw rapidly burst forward from a compartment in the front of his bike, towards Raven, grabbing and binding her arms to her sides. Startled, Raven's concentration broke and her dark magic receded as she was catapulted up and over, far in the air. Wicked laughter filled the air as Johnny continued onward to escape.

Suddenly, a starbolt flashed by, catching him off-guard as it landed right ahead of him, creating a rubble of cement to explode in his path, threatening to end his chase. He quickly dodged the obstacle and glanced at his side mirror to reveal Starfire, flying after him with her hands poised to fire again.

"Stop criminal!" She shouted after him and shot another starbolt, this time aimed for his back tire. Johnny, anticipating another attack and nothing but straight open streets ahead, watched from his side view mirror, just long enough to see another starbolt leap forward and quickly dodged her bolt before it could meet its' target. Beast Boy came around and attempted to side-rammed him, in the shape of a pterodactyl, to grab him off his motorcycle but Johnny reacted quickly and ducked, instinctively turning around a sharp corner before Beast Boy could catch him. It became apparent that he was out-numbered and handicapped as he couldn't take on two opponents while driving and decided that he had no choice but to outrun them.

"You'll have to catch me first!" He yelled out and howled as he throttled his super gas-guzzler, which tripled his speed.

"You'll never catch me now!" He mocked as his motorcycle built momentum, he noticed up ahead at the corner of the street, peeking out was Cyborg's T-Car. Knowing that a Titan lay in wait, he could only assume that a trap was set up for him. He noticed in his side view mirror, Robin's R-Cycle made an appearance and growled in irritation as he felt the panic of capture. Johnny scanned his surroundings for another exit plan and to his right, saw a nearby mall. An idea struck him and grinned malevolently as he made his way onto the grass plains towards the outdoor food court that sat right around the side of the mall, where people could be seen sitting down, eating their meals and, at this point, oblivious to the impending danger headed their way. Soon, panic set in as people caught sight of the oncoming threat and ran every which way to avoid the mad motorcyclist as he zig-zagged his way through the crowds of people. He scooped up a girl in his arms and turned to face the Teen Titans as they gathered around him.

"Let go of her, Johnny!" Robin commanded, aiming his bird-a-rang at him with his staff ready at his side. The others soon caught up to him and joined around him and cautioned to advance.

"Come any closer…" Johnny quickly pulled out a switchblade and propped it against the girl's neck. "...and I'll do more damage than robbing a couple of banks." A devilish smirk flashed across his face as he felt triumphant with his leverage.

"Then you should've picked a better hostage."

Johnny stopped and panicked. Someone had replied within close range and frantically searched around him, until he decided to look down to reveal that the girl he was holding hostage had spoken.

Not a second past before he was uppercut in the air before being thrown down by his hostage's spiraling kick to the side of his head. His body hit the ground with a loud pounding thud. The 'hostage' twisted his arm around his back and securely interlocked his arm with hers and kneeled on his backside for good measure.

"Also, you had the blunt back-end of the knife to my throat. Idiot." She stated in a calm manner and gave a slight eye-roll at the end. The Titans stood by, dumbstruck, as they witnessed the whole situation unfold so unexpectedly in front of them.

"Woah." Beast Boy said in a stunned daze.

"Well, that was…" Cyborg restored his hand, returning his sonic cannon within, and scratched at the side of his cheek. "…unexpected?"

"Yea." Raven dragged on with a bit of surprise. She hovered down to the ground with the rest of the group and walked up to Robin, noticing that he was silently gauging the situation in front of him.

Johnny let out a struggling grunt before he lost consciousness and passed out. She took notice and released her hold on him after she made sure. She picked herself up from the ground and stood five foot five inches, her olive tan skin gave off a healthy glow from the sun's reflection and her straight, yet voluminous, chestnut hair fell around the nape of her neck. She was dressed like any other normal teenager her age with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans with sneakers. She was lean with a proportionately smaller torso as her waist swooped down her slightly widened hips towards her long shapely and slim legs. Her middle-eastern appearance gave her an exotic air coupled with her vibrant silver irises outlined by an upturned eye shape, which bared her a naturally smoldering look. She quickly realized that the team were standing behind, probably waiting for an explanation. She hesitantly turned her attention to them and started to make an excuse, until Starfire suddenly leapt forward.

"That was marvelously done!" Starfire cheered out, clapping her hands in delight and grabbed forward the girl's hand's together and pulled them up in anticipation.

"You fought so valiantly and bravely! Tell me, what is your name?"

The girl was thrown off by her sudden friendliness and struggled to reply. "Uh. Um, I actually-"

"Dude, where'd you learn to fight like that? That was so fast! I could hardly see it!" Beast Boy cut in as he attempted to imitate her moves as Raven watched him with a tired expression.

"Yea, you've got some major fightin' skills there!" Cyborg complimented her as he joined Starfire and Beast Boy.

"Thanks, but I-"

"Where do you come from? What's your favorite color? Do you like pancakes? And would you like to be friends?" Starfire interjected, not holding back. As she pushed in closer and closer, the girl became increasingly uncomfortable with the growing close proximity and started to avert direct eye contact.

"Y-You all seem really nice, but I..." She said with quick assertion, pushing away with both her hands and started to back up as she struggled to find the words to finish. "…I have to be somewhere. Sorry."

She looked at them with sympathetic eyes feeling sorry for her abruptness but worried for her own situation. A slight panic set in at the thought of these superheroes somehow getting any more involved in her life. Before her expressions could betray her thoughts, she quickly turned around and walked away. The Teen Titans simply stood there and watched as she left, again, dumbfounded by the situation.

* * *

"What just happened?" Beast Boy broke the silence.

"Was it something I have said?" Starfire blinked with a confused and worried look about her.

"Well that was weird." Beast Boy stressed at the end, voicing his bewilderment. The Titans poured into the common room as they continued to speculate their encounter with the strangely withdrawn girl.

"Did I say something that was not appropriate to Earth etiquette?" Starfire walked up to Robin who stood behind the couch, with an uncertain demeanor.

"You didn't say anything wrong, Star. But it was kind of strange for her to just leave like that. As if she was trying to avoid us." He rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner with a glazed expression as he looked out at the sea from their tower window. "I wonder who she is."

"I feel kind of bad. I mean, were we not friendly enough?" Beast Boy waved his hands in the air as he walked towards the kitchen area.

"Maybe she's just not the friendly type." Cyborg shrugged his shoulders and took a seat on the semi-circle couch.

"Yea," Beast Boy snickered as he poured himself a cup of orange juice, peering over to Raven who was busy making tea right behind him. "Like Raven."

Raven twitched with irritation as Beast Boy took a drink, joining Cyborg at the couch circle. Black energy encapsulated the cup and a yelp escaped him as it erupted like a volcano in Beast Boy's face, leaving his head drenched in juice,

"That is so not cool!" He wailed after her as she casually hovered passed him holding her cup of tea with a gloating smirk on her. He cringed at that the thought of the subsequent stickiness that would soon follow as Cyborg burst into laughter, holding his stomach as he pointed. Beast Boy growled and looked around to see a controller at his foot and threw it at Cyborg. The laughter stopped, and Cyborg returned fire with a pillow, challenging his initiative.

Soon enough, the semi-couch turned into a small battlefield as Beast Boy and Cyborg bickered away and reanimated a war-like zone, throwing various nearby objects at each other. Robin shook his head at how immature his friends can be, yet slightly entertained by it all, anyways. Raven seated herself away from their noisy quarrel and began reading a book. Starfire watched on with a small amount of amusement, as Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to fight, but her thoughts still lingered with the girl. Robin took notice of her contradicting expression, and felt the conflicts that stirred within.

"Don't worry about it Star. There are going to be lots of people in the world that don't exactly like us, even though our job is to protect them." Robin turned to Starfire and reassured her with a warm smile and a comforting pat and rub on the back.

She gestured a small attempt to smile back and nodded. "I guess you are right. However, is sad to think though, that some people do not think well of us."

"Yea." Robin mirrored her worries with brows furrowed with his own look of slight dismay with a smile and continued in a consoling tone. "But the world isn't perfect and neither are people."

Starfire looked to Robin, comforted in the fact that he shared her feelings. She smiled warmly towards him with no signs of distress and nodded in agreement as Robin matched her smile in warmth and comfort.

Beast Boy and Cyborg soon evolved from battlefield to video games as the two bantered in the background. Raven seemed to have gone up to the roof to start her meditation regime. Despite sudden turn of events earlier in the day, things appeared to return to its normal routine.

* * *

Two weeks had passed by and the girl had largely left the minds of the Titans as they continued to answer the call to stop crime and fight criminals and evil-doers. For a short while, it had bothered Robin and Beast Boy as they disliked being kept from knowing the real reason but towards their own respective questions. But soon the day-to-day duties washed over their brief fixation.

The day woke up to a brisk morning but soon fell into a pleasantly warm breeze as people slowly began to fill the streets towards the afternoon, to enjoy the nice weather. It was a great day for a social outing as the team decided to go for an outing to the local mall. Starfire was lit with excitement as she rushed out the doors, hardly able to wait to practice Earth's favorite past time of shopping which she quickly grew to enjoying doing herself. Starfire quickly whisked Robin away to join her in the tradition of giving opinions to another as they try on outfits of cloths before purchasing. Raven would head over to the bookstore to browse through any newly arrived books, after making a trip to the tea shop she bought her supply of tea leaves from. Beast Boy and Cyborg stopped by the video game store to purchase the game they've been anxiously waiting to play. It had been advertised in the market for quite some time and with each passing month, Beast Boy and Cyborg became more and more enthusiastic for its' release date. Afterwards, they decided to go down to the food court to grab something to eat.

"Dude, you totally hogged the whole thing. I thought we were going to share, you junkyard scrap!" Beast Boy complained as Cyborg popped another pretzel bite in his gaping mouth, looking very pleased with himself. When they arrived at the food court they had realized that they hadn't brought enough cash on hand and decided to split a bag of pretzel bites at a nearby stand.

"Hey, I'm bigger than you so that means I need to eat more than you!" Cyborg teased as he faced Beast Boy and popped another pretzel bite right in front of him. Beast Boy fumed in aggravation and impulsively lunged forward in an effort to swipe the snack away. But Cyborg saw through him and kept him at a distance as Beast Boy continued to run into Cyborg's palm, in an ever-struggling failed attempt to reach the pretzel bag from the other hand.

"Let's make a bet then!" He panted in exhaustion and proposed a challenge.

"First person to guess if a guy or girl is going to turn that corner," Beast Boy pointed to the corner edge from the store of Hot Subject that stood about 20 feet away from them. "Gets the last of everything."

"You're on!" Cyborg replied in a deep tenor with a mischievous grin.

"I say boy!" Beast Boy quickly declared.

"Fine. Girl!"

They quickly directed their eyes to the corner and concentrated fiercely because the last of the pretzel bites were on the line. They stared, resisting to blink for fear that they would miss any action. Beads of sweat fell down their cheeks as their concentration increased. An elbow revealed itself around the corner and their anticipation increased as hair made an appearance. Soon Beast Boy's heart sank as Cyborg's grew. The flick of long hair floated in the air.

"AHAAAAAA! I WIN!" Cyborg bellowed. He dumped the bag upside down and inhaled the rest of the pretzel bites. Beast Boy stood by and whimpered as the sight of his delicious pretzel bites disappeared in the belly of the whale. As the last bite vanished Beast Boy caught a glimpse of the person responsible for his loss. He stopped and recognized a silver-eyed girl.

"Hey, look! Isn't that that girl?" Beast Boy tapped Cyborg to get his attention.

"Oh yeeea." He recalled, as he watched the girl walk into a store.

"Come on." Beast Boy goaded Cyborg to follow his lead.

"What, like follow her?" Cyborg asked in disbelief, but Beast Boy had already walked into the store after her.

They hid behind some clothes rack as they continued on with their pseudo-spying mission. They watched her as she continued to go through a shirt rack, sliding across the hangers as she looked them over.

"What do ya think you're going to find out?" He whispered to Beast Boy. "Besides that you a peepin' tom."

"I don't know, but don't you want to find out why she freaked out like that?" Beast Boy pushed the curiosity.

"Then why don't you just go talk to her." Cyborg pushed back.

"Dude, that would be weird. I mean, going up to her out of nowhere?!" Beast Boy argued.

With a deadpan expression Cyborg slowly turned to him, who dug his head deep into the clothes as if they would act sufficiently as camouflage.

"And this _isn't_ weird?" He stated matter-of-factly, no longer whispering. Beast Boy picked up on the tone of flat sarcasm and pointed his finger at him.

"Then why don't _you_ talk to her." He whispered back loudly.

"Fine! I will." Cyborg came out from behind the rack but stopped to see that she had gone.

"Where'd she go?" He searched around the store for her chestnut hair. Beast Boy noticed she had disappeared and joined him but saw no sight of her.

"Why are you following me?" A stern voice from behind them asked.

They both jumped and twirled around to see the girl they were searching for standing before them, who appeared very impatient and displeased.

"Um, _wha-da-ya-mean_ …." Beast Boy's voice trailed off in a nervous stutter. He attempted to smile but cracked under her glower.

"Why have you been watching me from behind these racks, whispering?" Her rigid tone demanded answers as Beast Boy and Cyborg micro-gestured to one another for one.

"U-um, sorry we just…we were…just wanted to talk?" Cyborg weakly replied and chuckled in hopes to relieve some of the tension.

"Y-Yea, well I mean since that day you kicked butt you just…left like that," Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head in an anxious gesture. "And we were wondering why?"

"Well, not me. Just Beast Boy." Cyborg immediately corrected, pointing at him.

"Thanks man, I _really_ wanted to be thrown under the bus." Beast Boy squawked, flapping his arms around like wings, while Cyborg put his finger in the ear Beast Boy was yelling into, to lessen the screeching pain. The girl just looked on, perplexed.

"Look," She interrupted their squabbles, waving their attention down. "It's nothing personal but can you just...leave me alone. It wasn't a big deal that day, OK?" She put up her hand to express her urgency.

"We just want to talk." Beast Boy shrugged with his hands in the air to appeal amiably to the girl.

"Sorry, I have to go." She said, and promptly took her leave. Then a brief silence settled in as they watched the girl walk away, again.

"I don't get it. Do we stink or something?" Beast Boy sniffed at himself to validate his speculation.

"Come on. It sounds like she doesn't want to be bothered. Let's go, Beast Boy." Cyborg turned him around.

* * *

Starfire giggled at Robin's comment towards the movie they had just watched. They decided to get ice-cream cones as an after-movie dessert. It was a little past five and had just begun to get dark but decided to walk down the streets of downtown as they enjoyed the sunset skies. Robin smiled at her, feeling good about making her laugh but his thoughts lightly wandered back to a conversation he had with Beast Boy and Cyborg two days ago, when they told him about another encounter with the girl.

"It was most humorous! It appeared that he had become a glarthsnor but was really a flagsnart!" She continued to laugh and didn't take notice as her hand slowly tilted sideways and her ice-cream scoop was in danger of falling off the cone. Robin's attention momentarily slipped away but caught sight of the ice cream and grabbed her hand before it could fall and held it right-side up.

"Watch out! You almost dropped your ice cream." He chuckled, then realized that he was holding her hand and blushed, quickly taking his hand away as soon as she found her grip again. Starfire soon realized as well and blushed slightly with a small satisfied smile, as it grew quiet between the delicate emotions.

"So yea. Pretty funny, huh?" He interjects hoping to break the awkward tension.

"Yes. Quite." It grew quiet again, as they walked down the sidewalk. Robin began to say something until a loud clang interrupted him. Starfire heard the noise as well and stood still to hear where it originated from. Another bang sounded off ahead of them from an alley-way several yards away.

They sprinted off towards the alley and turned the corner to see a man, clothed completely in black, engaged in a choke-hold against a girl. Her feet lifted off the ground and wrestled to find footing.

"Let her go!" Robin shouted and darted towards them.

He threw a bird-a-rang which expertly cut into the unknown attacker's arm that held the girl in a choke hold. He yelped out in pain as he reactively loosened his grip. The girl saw her chance and grabbed his cut arm and positioned her feet against his two legs. She pushed off and grabbed on, leaving gravity to work in her favor which forced him to lean forward and front flip on his back with unexpected force, which gave way for her to escape his hold.

Starfire flew close above the attacker and launched a star bolt but the attacker came to just before it hit and dodged it. The man realized he was out-numbered and grabbed two explosive pellet-balls. Robin noticed the assailant's intentions and reached around for an electric disc to interfere before he could escape but was too late. The pellet balls erupted as they hit the ground, before Robin could throw his disc, and produced a pepper-gas smokescreen to mask the attacker's exit. The three who were left in the alley, unfortunately inhaled the gas and began coughing profusely as it irritated their esophagus.

"Is everyone alright?" Robin sounded off in between reflexive coughs caused by the gas.

"Yes," Starfire coughed and landed herself onto the ground behind him. "I think so."

Robin wiped away his teary eyes, which also resulted from the gas, and searched for the victim.

"Hey, are you ok?" He found her crouched down, holding her hand up to her face, and laid a hand on her shoulder. The victim turned to face him and he met eyes with her silver teary eyes. Robin coughed and wiped his eyes again to re-adjust his vision more clearly.

"Wait." His grip tightened slightly on her shoulder. "Aren't you from the mall?"

She realized her situation and hastily shoved his hand off her with brisk force and swept kick Robin from under. Robin momentarily lost his balance but caught himself by somersaulting forward. He followed behind her as she turned the corner out the alley but when he came to the streets there was no sign of her among the few people walking around nearby.

"Robin, are you ok?" Starfire hovered over and did as he did, searching for the same girl. "Was that not the same girl from the mall?"

Robin clenched his jaw in dismay. "Yea, I think so."

He and Starfire returned to the scene of the crime and Robin noticed a wallet that had hid next to a pile of deconstructed cardboard boxes. He picked it up and searched for a license. The card read Kaya White and saw the same girl in the photo.

"Let's go Star. We need to find out who this girl really is."

* * *

Robin called everyone back to the Tower for an emergency. As they all arrived, he relayed his and Starfire's encounter with the same girl they met at the mall. They gathered around the computer screen as the database continued its' search for a Kaya White.

"Finally! We get to find out who this girl is!" Beast Boy groaned out.

When Beast Boy had told Robin about how the girl had reacted towards them, he found his curiosity grew to scrutiny. However, he thought it best to respect her wish to be left alone since there was no other reason not to. Until, one too many encounters coupled with rather strange behavior and events, pushed the bar for alarm.

The result quickly produced a record of Kaya White.

"Looks like we found her." Robin opened the record to reveal credit scores, driving records, address history, job history and a death certificate.

"Or not." Cyborg pointed out.

"I do not understand. She is dead but she is alive?" Starfire questioned.

"No, Starfire. She stole someone's identity." Raven answered her.

"Oooh." Starfire paused for a minute but another question formed. "But how can one live on another person's death? Do the authorities not know of this person's death?"

"Most states don't cross check other state databases for a death certificate in that person's name. But our database searches all records of anyone, worldwide." Robin explained to her.

"She's only been here for six months." Raven pointed out, raising a curious observation.

"Her address is 120 Feltner Ave. Apartment 213." Robin grabbed his gear that lay ready in wait next to him. "Titans, go!"

On his command the Teen Titans rushed off as they all headed towards the girl's address.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and look forward to reading more of them in the future. Reviews for constructive criticism or first impression opinions would be greatly appreciated and most welcome!

Helpful tip: _"the girl"_ is about an inch shorter than Starfire's height but an inch taller than Robin and Raven. Thought that would be useful to envision her height.

Thanks to my beta-reader **McDiggity** for fine-tuning this chapter!


	2. Al-Qatila

**Chapter 2: Al-Qatila**

The day stretched into the evening as the skies grew dim. People who were wandering outside started to retreat in their homes. The empty street roads whistled with an ominous hum as the day turned into a quiet, cold evening. The Teen Titans appeared at the building where apartment 213 was, on the second floor they could see a light was on.

"Okay, it looks like she hasn't left yet. Starfire. Raven. Both of you stay outside and monitor all exits. Pursue on sight. Beast Boy. Cyborg. You're with me." Robin directed his team their tasks and got into position.

Starfire and Raven hovered from a high distance, keeping watch from outside. Robin and his team entered the building and walked up the stairwell to the second floor.

Apartment 213 stood at the end of the hallway. Robin stopped in front of the door, pressing his ear against it gently, listening for any movement while watching for shadow movements from the light that was escaping the crack beneath the door. It was silent, with no sign of movement, Robin carefully turned the doorknob and realized that the door wasn't locked. He held knob and signaled for Beast Boy to check the area. Robin opened the door a sliver to allow Beast Boy in.

Transforming into a fly, Beast Boy flew through the crack and landed on the side of a wall. He scanned the area and looked around to see nothing too out of the ordinary but also noticed that the apartment's furnishings was bare-bones. The damaged and worn plywood flooring added to the lonely sense of the space. A microwave sat on top of the kitchen counter with a sink of unwashed pots and a trash can filled with take-out cartons, styrofoam, and plastic snap containers. A cheap plastic fold-out table lay in the middle with plates on top, streaked and stained from a previously eaten meal. A lived-in couch, covered with a warm fuzzy blanket, faced a burdened and slightly damaged widescreen TV which was propped on top of a pile of boxes. A coffee table stood between the two, displaying a messy arrangement of magazines and books that sat next to a bowl of leftover popcorn.

As Beast Boy peered down the hallway, he followed the only room that was lit in the apartment and the door was wide open as the light spread down the hallway and towards the front entrance and kitchen area. He heard no noise as he made his way towards the lit room. He quickly scanned the area clear before transforming back to his original form and opened the front door for Robin and Cyborg, letting them know that the apartment was unoccupied.

Robin and Cyborg inspected the area and soon followed Beast Boy to, what appeared to be, the girl's bedroom. The room was just as empty as the rest of the apartment with a mattress on the floor pushed into the corner of the room with only a plain white comforter on top. The closet looked like it was recently rummaged through as some clothes remained on their wire-rack hangers, while the rest looked like they were violently ripped off theirs as some of the hangers fell on the floor and were thrown into a partially packed suitcase that laid in front of them. The only window in the bedroom, was wide open and Robin spoke into his communicator.

"Raven, Starfire, She's not here!" He alerted them as he looked out the window to see if he could spot the girl. "Did any of you guys see her?"

"No, Robin. We did not see anyone since you entered the building." Starfire answered back.

"Maybe she left before we came here." Raven said.

"But how did she know we were coming for her?" Beast Boy questioned back. Robin growled silently to himself in frustration until the communicator buzzed in suddenly.

"Robin, I see her!" Starfire yelled out.

"Where, Starfire?" He demanded back.

"She is running down the back alley, one block ahead." She and Raven started to chase the girl.

"Follow her! We'll catch up!" Robin commanded and motioned Cyborg and Beast Boy to follow his lead. Beast Boy transformed into an eagle and flew out the window to join Raven and Starfire in the chase. Robin and Cyborg hurried out of the building to catch up. Robin revved his R-Cycle as Cyborg started his T-Car. They both take off and follow their teammates in pursuit.

"She's turning left to the other side of the block." Raven said to her communicator.

"Okay, me and Cyborg will head to the other side and see if we can cut her off before she makes it out. Raven, you, Starfire, and Beast Boy head after her and lead her in our direction so she'll be blocked in." Robin instructed.

Robin and Cyborg head down the next street over and race to the alley way that Raven cited out, and blocked the exit with their vehicles. As they come onto the alley, ahead, they saw the girl running towards them and watched as she came to a sudden halt when she noticed she was boxed in. She looked around desperately for an escape on either sides of the buildings next to her but the walls were nothing but brick. A black form abruptly wrapped around her torso, binding her arms tightly to her side. With her feet still on the ground, she tried to wiggle out of the strange entrapment, but her efforts were in vain. She crouched down defiantly, like a cornered creature, as the Titans slowly closed in on her. Beast Boy transformed into an elephant to cover the back alley, in case she tried to run again. Starfire and Raven hovered above to prevent an aerial escape, if possible.

"Who are you?" Robin questioned and stood in a ready position, just in case. The girl only responded with a challenging glare. She looked around to see from above that Raven's eyes glazed over with the same black magic that was wrapped around her. She growled in a slight anger, frustrated at her predicament.

"We know about the stolen identity." That alerted her attention but she continued to stay silent, as Robin went on.

"If you're not Kaya White, then who are you? Why did you move here?"

Silence continued as Robin became increasingly distressed with her refusal to explain. He stood up straight, knowing there was little chance she would be able to escape Raven's magic, and crossed his arms as he thought over the situation.

"What do we do Robin?" Cyborg came up behind him.

"We'll have to give her to the police." He stated. A panic flickered across the girl's face.

"No! Don't!" She finally speaks. The others, struck with surprise, turned to the girl that finally spoke. Robin stepped closer to her.

"Why not?" He persisted with a firm tone. "Who are you, really?"

She bit at her lip as she tried to regain her composure. She straightened herself up a little before attempting to reply with calm.

"I can't go to jail. If you put me in jail, they'll find me." A slight tremble sounded off towards the end as she struggled to keep a steady tone.

"Who's _'they'_?" He inquired but silence fell again. Starfire and Raven hovered down to the ground.

"Maybe there is a reason she cannot explain herself." Starfire quietly said as she came up to him, observing how conflicted the girl appeared to be. Raven watched as she stood in front of Beast Boy, who still stood in the form of an elephant, watching along.

"What do you want to do, Robin?" Cyborg asked again. Robin sighed in defeat.

"What's your name?" He finally asked her. The girl looked to him with a cautious look and looked around at the others.

She looked down at the ground as she momentarily thought to herself before she answered, "Al-Qatila."

Robin gave her an once-over with a mindful look. "If we take you somewhere safe, will you tell us why you're here?"

The girl was unhappy about being forced to explain, but seeing as her choices were down to either going to jail or a chance to avoid it, the latter was more desirable. She nodded reluctantly and Robin took out handcuffs and wrapped them securely around her wrists, for good measure, and led her to the back of Cyborg's car. They all returned back to the tower with the girl in tow.

* * *

When they arrived back at the tower, Robin took the girl into the danger room and interrogated her alone, while the rest of the team stood by, waiting in the common room. He returned to relay her story to them and recounted that Al-Qatila was the daughter of Dahlia, who was in association with the League of Assassins. The League had assigned Dahlia a hit job, but failed to complete her mission. As a result the League had to enact their strictest and adhered to rule; that anyone who failed to assassinate their target would be hunted down by the League itself. Knowing what was in store for her, Dahlia ran away and left her daughter to fend for herself. Al-Qatila was then targeted by her mother's enemies and the League, in an attempt to get to Dahlia. The constant fear of being targeted kept her from staying in one location for too long and soon arrived in Jump City and planned on staying for only a year before she felt she needed to move on again. Drawing any kind of attention to herself or getting caught by the authorities or any other superheroes would most likely result in her incarceration, which would easily allow her enemies to locate her and create the bigger possibility of her end. Al-Qatila had hoped that the Teen Titans interest in her would fade long enough for her to move to another location. As Robin ended the story of Al-Qatila's past and present, the team began digesting the information.

"Woah." Beast Boy simply uttered and stood a bit shocked.

"We must help her, Robin!" Starfire cried out loudly, hoping to implore Robin to take protective action. "This League of Assassins sounds like a most formidable group of criminals. We must do something!"

"I don't know. I mean, it doesn't look like we have much on them." Cyborg started researching on the group and found little information on them as he pulled it up on the computer. "This was all I could find. An investigation that stopped and a John Doe who washed ashore who is suspected to have been part of the League but never confirmed. But other than that, not much else about them."

"No, I've heard of them before." Robin said in a serious manner and walked up to the screen to read what came to the screen. "They're hidden and underground. They operate undercover and do a pretty good job in covering their tracks."

"Or more like erasing it." Raven suggested. "If they are as good as you say they are, maybe we _should_ do something about it."

"She is scared and frightened and earlier this evening, that man who had attacked her might have been from this ' _League'_." Starfire recalled.

"Starfire's right. I mean who knows what this 'League' will do if they catch her!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Starfire nodded her head in complete agreement as Robin stared intently at the screen.

"Okay. We'll offer her our help but we're going to have to keep eye out on her. We still don't know what she's capable of." Robin told the team, as they all followed him to the danger room.

The door retracted open to reveal the girl sitting quietly in the middle of the floor and gets up as they all walk towards her. Robin took the front and released her from her restraints and crossed his arms as he relayed their decision.

"We won't take you to jail." The girl appeared unfazed, knowing what would soon follow.

"We want to offer you our help, though. The League of Assassins aren't going to stop looking for you and one of these days, they might get lucky. But if you're here with us, at least we can help protect you." Robin said.

"I don't think that's a good idea." She said hesitantly.

"But then, what will you do?" Starfire stepped forward and clutched her hands with concern. "This League of Assassins appear to be a heinous organization. Do you not think us capable of helping?"

"…"

Her gaze slowly drifted down as her eyes fluttered with a sense of thought. She sighed out in distress, lifting her gaze back up at them again. "I've been able to take care of myself for a long time…. and I don't think things will work out."

Beast Boy came forward with a confident smile. "We don't bite, and besides it might be fun to hang around us." He jabs at her lightly and enacts a quirky gesture.

"Yea, that is if Beast Boy's jokes don't scare you away first." Cyborg snickered quietly to which Beast Boy glared at him. A small amused smile flashed by but continued to look doubtful.

"Well….if things don't work out….can I leave?" She turned to Robin.

"We won't keep you prisoner here Al-Qatila, but you stealing identities, isn't okay. If the authorities find out, they may not be as understanding. So it's up to you." He points out to her. "You can stay with us until we can figure out how to keep the League from going after you."

Another sigh escaped her drifting away again, deep into thought until Beast Boy laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "And if the League comes after you, at least you won't have to fight them alone this time."

Her gaze met his toothy grin. Unexpectedly, pressure started to leave her congested chest. Confusion mixed with instinct collided together until she gambled away. "Fine."

"Awesome, come on Al-Qa…A-La…" Tongue-tied, Beast Boy struggled with pronouncing her full name.

"You can call me Tila. For short. It's easier." She shrugged.

"Oh. Sweet!" He smiled widely. "Do you like video games? You should play with me and Cyborg sometime, because it can be a drag just playing with _him_."

"Hey! You're no picnic in the park either! It gets _boring_ beating you every time!" Cyborg retorted back and they soon got in an argument as they pointed fingers at each other.

"Oh, glorious day! I now have someone to try my Flagersnorfs!" Starfire sprung in delight.

"Fl-Flarger…w-what?" Tila said, puzzled with Starfire's alien terminology.

"Whatever you do, don't eat it." Raven warned Tila.

"It's food?!" Tila replied, bewildered.

"It is to her."

"Come on. We'll show you a room for you to stay in." Robin showed her out the danger room and they all walked to one of the empty guest rooms that had. The room was spacious and quite a bit bigger, compared to her tiny cramped one-bedroom apartment. As she was presented her new bedroom, another compelling feeling of released tension started to slowly spread within Tila. The room was completely unfurnished except the essential carpeting and basic wall paint. A large and wide double-paned window shed light onto the team as they entered the room, welcoming them with a beautiful scenery of the ocean waters. The natural sunlight created a certain homestead glow to Tila; despite it shining down on nothing but carpet.

"You can use this space the way you want." Robin presented to her. "I noticed you don't have a lot of furniture in your apartment but we have some extra furniture you can use in the storage of our basement."

"Wow," She said softly. In genuine awe, she slowly walked on the carpet of her newfound residence. "Thanks."

He noticed that she appeared to be a bit overwhelmed and motioned to the others to fall back to the common room. "Well, we'll be in the co-ops room. Come out when you're ready and we'll help you move some stuff around."

Without realization, she snapped to attention again. She nodded back at them as she watched them leave, closing the door behind them. She waited a few beats before she let go of her breath and the tension in her shoulders as they slumped down, relaxed. She stood alone, in the big open space and every slight movement echoed off the walls, amplifying the sound as it bounced around the room. Tila looked around with an uncomfortable feeling of ease and fear. She wasn't used to occupying such a large amount of space to herself. Agitated with the uncomfortable, she walked over to the window and slid back the window pane to let the rush of the ocean wind fill the room with its' salty breath. Her forearms rested upon the window sill as her upper body leaned into the wind, inhaling it in as she felt it wash over her and her worries. She stood still for a minute as she began to admire the view the Titans had, with the best of both worlds at their pleasure. The crashing waves of the ocean sea that merged in harmony with the tranquility of the earthy dirt of the city. Her mind wandered aimlessly as she watched the waves roll back and forth from the beach shores of the island the Tower sat upon. She sighed one last time before she closed the window and went to join the others in the common room. Before she reached for the door handle, she paused and took out her phone. She sent a text message: _'Cardinal found me.'_ And resumed to return to the Titans who waited for her.

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Tila moved in the Tower with the Teen Titans. The day to day routine started to settle in as Tila tried to accustom to her new home. Much of her time was spent organizing and decorating her bedroom, hoping to mold it in a more comfortable space for herself. Her walls were painted a blue peacock shade that mirrored a sense of inner maturity with a low futon-inspired walnut bed that sat in the middle, dressed with a plump grey comforter with nightstands on either side of it. The uncomfortable largeness of the room eventually diminished as she started to create the space into her own. It felt strangely refreshing that for the first time, she started to enjoy planning and imaging how certain things would be placed. She started to unroll a large-than-life wall decor that she wanted to put on the wall that faced the window. She measured and expertly positioned the sticker in place and started applying it on the wall. She started from the bottom to the top but found it difficult to spread across the flopping topside of the sticker as it limped over her. A knock sounded at her door.

"Tila, it's me." Beast Boy's voice said on the other side. "Can I come in?"

"Yea." Tila grunted out. Beast Boy came in and saw her on her toes, struggling to spread up the topside of the decal sticker.

"Need some help?" He asked. Tila let out a sigh of exasperation and rested her hands on her hips in defeat.

"Yea, probably." She huffed.

"Let me get a stool. I'll be right back." He left and came back with a stepping stool and reached over to smooth the rest of the decor, making sure no bubbles were lodged within before he stepped down. The wall now pictured a silhouette of a dandelion that bent away from an imaginary breeze that carried off some of its' seeds from the stem, drifting it away into the unknown.

"Cool sticker. Do you like dandelions?" He saw her stare at the dandelion with a yearn.

"Yea. I guess." Tila said softly. Her inflection hinted at a deeper meaning, but felt it best to leave it alone and stood beside her, admiring the dandelion.

"You guys came back early." She quickly changed the subject as she collected all the plastic backing from the sticker and started walking out towards the common room.

"Oh, yea. We just came back from kicking Control Freak's butt from terrorizing another electronics store again." Beast Boy posed at her with a one arm muscle flex with a cocky grin. She smiled faintly for his trying efforts to be amusing.

"Nice." She said coolly. "Thanks for helping me put it up, by the way."

"No problem!"

Walking into the kitchen to throw her trash away, she spots Starfire cooking. Her stomach tied itself in knots from the memory of the last time it endured Starfire's cuisine. Tila knew better now than to eat Starfire's cooking again, remembering Cyborg and Beast Boy's odd charades of objection when Starfire first offered her some food.

"Tila! Would you like to try one of my favorite home meals from Tamaran?" Starfire enthusiastically offered her a tasting from what looked like bubbling black goo that started to simmer in a horrendous way in a frying pan. Smells of uncertain and terrifying manners started to enact a sour reaction within Tila, as she started to remember the hours of stomach sickness that followed after trying one of Starfire's mysterious dishes.

"No, no! No thanks!" Tila hastily waved her hands in refusal as she replied back as politely as she could. "I-uh….ate! Already!"

"Oh, then perhaps next time." To Tila's relief, Starfire seemed to have accepted her factitious excuse and returned back to her witch's brew, humming happily while she cooked. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Beast Boy.

"Hey, Tila! Wanna hear a joke?" He asked her with boyish enthusiasm.

"I wouldn't." Raven said to Tila in passing, sitting on the couch with a book as Cyborg continued his video game playing beside her. Tila gradually got used to Beast Boy's sudden crack at jokes, but still thought it odd how often he tried. But after a short while, she found it a little endearing how he always put in an effort to make everyone laugh.

"Why did the teddy bear never feel hungry?"

"Why?" She asked, hoping to appear eager.

"Because he was always stuffed!" He held his sides as he broke out into a rowdy laugh. Raven rolled her eyes but continued to read her book.

"A-ha. Haha." She pushed out a forced laugh. She tried to indulge him but he noticed her false reaction.

"Aw man! You didn't think that was funny?" He turned discouraged which resulted in big comical puppy eyes as Tila tried to reassure him.

"N-No, I thought it was funny…..Just a little corny." She tried to tell him and then said to herself under her breath.

"Ha! You're no funnier than a coffin sittin' six feet under!" Cyborg teased, eyes still trained to the screen as he continued to play.

"Who asked you Chrome-Dome!" Beast Boy shot back.

"You two need to learn to fight quieter." Raven told them as she closed her book and started to walk away.

"What about you?" Beast Boy cut in front of Raven's path, smiling upon her with his usual toothy grin.

"What about me?" Raven stopped and looked at him with a tired look.

"Which room do the skeletons hate the most?" He pushed as his grin grew wider, hoping that she would take the bait.

But Raven just stared at him. "I'm not even going to ask."

She walked around him but Beast Boy continued to follow her, badgering her to play along.

"Aw, come on Raven." He pleaded. "Just ask me!"

"No." She replied with rejection.

Tila watched on as Raven struggled to walk towards the hallway as Beast Boy continued to block her path. During the three weeks, she noticed that Beast Boy interacted with Raven more than anyone, often trying to get her to respond positively to his jokes, to which she always dismissed or made a sarcastically dry remark. She found it puzzling why Beast Boy continued to be around someone who consistently disregarded him. As she pondered with the idea that Beast Boy may unknowingly be attracted to Raven, Robin interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey Tila. So, how are you settling in? Good?" Robin asked her.

"Good, I guess." She stretched her smile a little wider than it was.

Robin sympathetically smiled back at her. "I'm sure you'll get used to it soon enough."

She nodded in silent agreement then looked to Beast Boy and her smile warmed. "But, it's a nice change to have company though."

Robin reciprocated and felt good that she felt a little more at ease with them.

"So I've seen you fight in the gym a couple of times." He pointed out to her. "Did you train yourself?"

"In a way, yea."

"Well, you're really good. We should spar sometimes!" He smiled, then a thought passed by him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever thought about using your skills to do some good?"

Her mind went blank. She didn't predict that question to be asked to her. "Uh, no."

"Maybe you should. You may not believe it but none of us started out all good either." He motioned to his friends in the room. "It wasn't until we became a team that we found out that we could combine our forces to do a lot of good for the world."

"Uhm-hmm." She hummed apathetically.

"Just think about it." Robin said and left her with that thought in mind. She watched him walk away with an irked side-glance. The room soon began to feel cramped and left for the rooftop with an annoyed tsk.

As soon as she pushed open the door to the rooftop, she immediately breathed in the air and out with a loud long sigh while she stretched her arms up in the air, exercising her strained muscles. A light cool breeze swept by her, gliding through her chestnut hair to play in the wind. She walked over to the roof-top railings and leaned on. She gazed out into the vast scenery as far as the waters could reach. As soon as she settled, her thoughts soon wandered back to her conversation with Robin.

 _'Must be nice.'_ She thought to herself. _'To have a family. Wonder what that's like.'_

An inkling of envy crept up on her as she began to imagine each Teen Titan being in the arms of their parents and loved ones, smiling with such gratifying satisfaction. Her heart fell deeper within her as she grew melancholic and her outlook turned bleak, coming to realize that she never had, or will, experience what they had already.

"This is so stupid." Tila said with bitter contempt and clenched her jaw in irritation.

"They aren't that bad." A voice spoke after a short while. Startled with surprise, Tila quickly spun around to see Raven standing there.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to creep up on you." Raven apologized.

"No...it's okay." Tila replied and quietly exhaled not realizing she held her breath.

"You just came out of nowhere, didn't you?" Tila tried joking to Raven, re-situating herself to appear more calm. Raven was the most challenging person to get a read on, making Tila's situation that much more difficult.

Raven said nothing as she walked up to the railing next to her. Tila's brows furrowed in frustration as she looked back to Raven with scrutiny.

"I know what you're doing." Raven told her. Tila tensed up and felt her heartbeat quicken as she slowly turned to face Raven's side.

"What do you mean?" She tried to stay apathetic in her response.

"Running away won't help." Raven said.

"What you're talking about." Tila stood there, confused and slightly irritated.

Raven looked at Tila, attempting to relate to her somehow. "I know what it's like to be afraid and to try to run away from your past."

Raven turned around to walk away before she left Tila one last thought. "Don't run away from it."

Tila watched Raven walk away and stood there silently until she heard the door latch closed with a click. A wave of relief fell over her, letting go of her breath but a swelling tension stayed with her. She felt bad knowing that Raven simply meant to connect but at the same time, aggravation and stress stirred around and mixed together. She breathed in sharply and let out a vexing sigh, hoping that it would relieve her some of the tension that built up in her chest. She turned and leaned onto the railing again and looked at the ocean once more. A brief moment passed as she thought about her past and replied to Raven's last comment, saying it to no one but herself.

"I'm not running away from my past." Tila said. "I'm running after it."

Her phone buzzed, alerting her of a text message arrival. She took out her phone and saw the screen as it displayed the sender _'The Red Witch'_ and opened the message to read out: _'Status'._

With an irritated tsk, she shoved the phone back in her pocket without responding back to the message. She leaned back with her arms grabbing hold of the railing and pushed off in agitation and started heading back inside the tower.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hi everyone! So sorry this update was a long wait, but I had a bump in the road with beta-readers. My first one was unable to beta due to certain circumstances in their life and the second one I have not heard back from when I tried to email them. I completely understand that beta-ing is a side hobby when someone has the time for it and never really a top priority. Life, friends and family come first! But after not hearing back from my second beta I'm going to have to assume that they will not reply back. This chapter was partly beta'd by my second beta-reader and want to thank them for what time they could put into. The rest was re-edited and re-read myself.

I'm hoping I can find a beta-reader who can help improve the more emotional passages and characterization would be a great plus. Anyone who thinks they can better improve my writing style and help myself grow to be a better writer in the process. Personally, someone who thinks they are probably a level higher than my own writing level would be best! If you'd like to help out with this story and think you can be of help, please PM me! :)


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